OTTAWA/WASHINGTON, Nov 7 (Reuters) – Canada could take
delivery of an initial four F-35 fighter jets built by Lockheed
Martin Corp in 2017 under an agreement with the U.S.
military, although no final decision has been made, sources
familiar with the matter said on Friday.

An Oct. 27 briefing chart prepared by the Pentagon’s F-35
Joint Program Office maps out plans for the U.S. Air Force to
defer four of 26 F-35A purchases in a ninth batch of low-rate
production jets, which would allow Canada to take those slots,
said the sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly.

OTTAWA, Nov 4 (Reuters) – The Bank of Canada will plow ahead
with monetary stimulus despite risks from high household debt
and a hot housing market, Governor Stephen Poloz said on
Tuesday, pointing to recent weak data as a “brutal reminder” of
the economy’s fragility.

The central bank has kept its overnight rate at 1 percent
for more than four years, leading to concerns this might cause a
new crisis because of high household debt and housing prices.

OTTAWA/TORONTO, Nov 4 (Reuters) – Canada expects to finalize
the creation of a yuan clearing hub in the country, sources
familiar with the government’s talks with Chinese officials said
on Tuesday, with an announcement expected during Prime Minister
Stephen Harper’s trip to China later this week.

The two sides “expect to be able to finalize and announce
the currency hub,” said one source, speaking on condition of
anonymity because the matter is not yet public.

OTTAWA, Oct 30 (Reuters) – Canada’s Conservative government
on Thursday will announce a package of tax measures, including
one that would put two-parent families with children in a lower
bracket, a government source said.

Another provision will enhance the child care benefit, which
currently provides C$1,200 ($1,071) a year per child under 6
years of age regardless of whether he or she is in day care.

OTTAWA, Oct 30 (Reuters) – Canada’s Conservative government
on Thursday will announce a plan that would put two-parent
families with children in a lower tax bracket, Canadian media
reported.

The “income-splitting” plan would be of most benefit where
one spouse, such as a stay-at-home parent, has substantially
less income than the other, enabling some of the high income to
be taxed at the lower rate of the low-income earner.

OTTAWA/HAMILTON Ontario (Reuters) – Just over a week after an armed man charged into Canada’s Parliament and fought a gun battle with guards as lawmakers were meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, there are few signs of increased security in the nation’s capital.

Leading politicians and top officials can still be seen in the streets without any obvious protection. The visible new security measures at the Parliament building have been modest, and some have even been eased in recent days.

OTTAWA, Oct 29 (Reuters) – The head of Canada’s central bank
on Wednesday welcomed the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision to
abandon its ultra-easy money policy, saying it showed the U.S.
economy is gaining traction, but warned weaker oil prices will
crimp Canadian growth.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday ended its monthly bond
purchase program and dropped a characterization of U.S. labor
market slack as “significant” in a show of confidence in the
economy’s prospects.

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canadian lawmakers struck a defiant tone on Wednesday as they held their first caucuses since a gunman charged into the Parliament building after shooting dead a soldier in an attack that raised questions about the nation’s low-key approach to security.

Members of Parliament headed back to meeting rooms where some of them hid a week ago during a gun battle between security officers and an attacker described as a recent convert to Islam who struggled with drug addiction.

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canadian lawmakers on Wednesday were due to hold their first caucuses since a gunman charged into Parliament after shooting dead a soldier, in an attack that raised questions about the nation’s relaxed approach to security.

Members of Parliament are set to return to the meeting rooms on Parliament Hill where some hid a week ago during a gun battle between security officers and an attacker described as a recent convert to Islam who struggled with drug addiction.

OTTAWA (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday that an attack on the Canadian parliament and the country’s National War Memorial last week in which a soldier was killed was clearly a terrorist act.

“Clearly, anybody who walks up in a premeditated way with a loaded rifle and attacks someone in uniform then purposely goes to a parliament, is committing, by common sense standards, a terrorist act,” Kerry told a news briefing after talks in Ottawa with his Canadian counterpart, Foreign Minister John Baird.